– Roy Carver (son of C. E. Carver on Kains Island November 1933 – July 1944)
Roy Carver told me he “was born at the Bancroft Nursing Home at 705 Cook Street in Victoria, BC in mid 1930s. This nursing home was set up for expectant mothers that lived in out of the way places with no doctors, like his mother Evelyn Carver. They could come to the home a month before the due date and stay a few days or a week before returning home.”
Quatsino Lightstation c. 1930s - photo BC Archives
And Roy definitely did live in an out of the way place with his parents, and later his sister. His father was Clarence Edgar Carver who was the principal lightkeeper, fog alarm operator and radio beacon operator on Quatsino Lighthouse (aka Kains Island) during the period 1933 to 1944. Kains Island is located far up the western side of Vancouver Island on Quatsino sound. Nearest neighbours were six (6) miles (9.7 kilometers) away at the small fishing village of Winter Harbour. Continue reading Life on Kains Island 1933 – 1944→
Besides the mail, the other most important event on the lighthouses was the arrival of Santa Claus! 1
Santa at McInnes Island
One cannot imagine the excitement of the kids during the week before the scheduled Santa arrival. Depending on the station, this could take place anywhere from December 6th to December 18th. Couldn’t leave it much later otherwise Santa wouldn’t get all his other work done.
Cookies were baked, rooms were cleaned (really!) and the best clothes laid out.
By the way, Santa had his own special helicopter – sometimes a big one, sometimes a small one!
In the early days he was transported by ship and flown off the ship by a very small helicopter so that he could visit the lighthouse children. Later he had his own private Coast Guard helicopter for the day and night, which flew him out of Victoria, BC or Prince Rupert, BC. Continue reading Santa Claus Visits Lighthouses Too!→
With credit to Robbie Burns for the title quote I will tell a tale of woe that I heard many years ago about the Green Island lightkeepers and how they had run out of tobacco (a common occurence on the lighthouses) and the keepers had pooled their money to charter a float plane from Prince Rupert, 25 miles (15.5 kms) away, to bring some more cigarettes and tobacco out to the lighthouse.
It should be easy, eh? - photo Ray McKenzie
The small float plane arrived with the cargo on board and circled the island a few times, tipping his wings as he spotted the keepers standing outside waving. But alas, he radioed the keepers that because of the outflow northeast winds from Portland Canal he could not land on the ocean as requested, but, if the keepers wanted to take the risk, he could could fly over the island and drop the package from the cockpit window. Continue reading The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men . . .→
Quarters and Rations (Q&R), seen on many Canadian government employee pay cheques as Q – R IN KIND is also know as Rations and Quarters (R&Q) in the Canadian military.
It is a topic over which I fought against the Coast Guard bureaucracy my whole working life. I wanted it defined for the lighthouse keeper!
It is paid – why can the keepers not have the benefits? When I was working I had the personnel office in Prince Rupert in a turmoil. I even filed a grievance with the Union, and all the bigwigs in Vancouver could not find out what our benefits were and said let it drop.
When I worked for the government in the north of Canada, and today on many postings where government personnel – police, military, weather observers, ships crews, radio operators, airport personnel, etc. are sent into isolation to do work for the government, they are given Q&R benefits. (Is anybody missing from this list? Please contact me and let me know.) Continue reading Quarters and Rations (Q&R)→
The following was supposedly an actual advertisement in an Irish newspaper:
1985 Blue Volkswagen Golf Only 15 km Only first gear and reverse used Never driven hard Original tires Original brakes Original fuel and oil Only 1 driver Owner wishing to sell due to employment lay-off
Environment Canada (EC) has a cooperative/volunteer climate network weather collection project called COOLTAP.(Cooperative Online Temperature and Precipitation Entry System). It is a web-based Data entry system website where daily weather data is entered and used. All that is required is an internet-connected computer to input the data.
NOAA (USA) uses a similar data collection program called COOP Here is a PDF file on NOAA, COOP and the integration of COOLTAP. This data is used for both weather forecasting/climate prognosis and drought control.
Weather box, aka Stevenson Screen, used to record temperatures
British Columbia lighthouse keepers, as employees in the Pacific and Yukon Region (PYR) of Environment Canada also work in this program as well as performing their many other duties. Continue reading COOLTAP→
page 1 of H. F. Chamberlin letter letter courtesy of Zellie Chamberlin Sale
Howard Frazer Chamberlin was on Nootka lighthouse in 1942 according to the interview by the Naval Reserve (see letters at left). But there is a problem here.
When I received a copy of this letter I thought it was referring to the attack on Estevan Point which supposedly helped introduce conscription in Canada during the Second World War. But if you check the dates, this seems to have occured almost a month later to the day that the Estevan Point shelling happened. According to all records, the shelling of Estevan Point took place nightfall of June 20, 1942.
page 2 of H. F. Chamberlin letter letter courtesy of Zellie Chamberlin Sale
This letter seems to show that there was another attack at Nootka lighthouse about a month later on the evening of July 18, 1942. In fact the lightkeeper states that he phoned Estevan Point Wireless station to see if they were being plastered again! (my emphasis – JC) But Estevan returned the call and said that they had heard nothing so it must have been nearer Nootka. From working with explosives in mining and prospecting, Howard Chamberlin knew the difference between industrial explosives and high-explosives.
The only thing that appears to be at odds here is that he feels the vibration from the explosions as from underwater. I wonder if he was hearing depth charges going off? This is just one month later than the Estevan incident. I will bet that the Navy and the Naval Reserve were on high alert during this time and expecting the worse. Perhaps a floating log triggered the release of a few depth charges.
A transcript of the original letter(s) follows:
From H.M.C.S. “Pryer” To COAV Esquimalt BC Nootka Lighthouse 2200 / 19 / 7 / 42 Subject Interview With Mr. H. F. Chamberlin, Lightkeeper
I was sitting in the kitchen of the Light house, overlooking the sea, and having a cup of Tea at 1902 hours July 18/42, when I both felt and heard an explosion from a southerly direction. (out to sea) and this was followed by six other shocks at intervals of about one (1) minute between shocks. I was naturally surprised and could see the vibrations from the shocks in the cup of Tea. As an old Miner and Prospector I can easily tell the difference between “blasting” and “submarine” shocks, and the shock I both heard and felt were definitely from seaward, and from the “feel” of the vibration I would say from underwater. The first shock occured at 1902 and the last shock at 1911, as I noted the time of last shock. I phoned the wireless station at Estevan Point and asked them if they had been “plastered” again, and they informed me that they had felt or heard nothing. It was at 1915 when I phoned Estevan Pt. Wireless.
Page 2 (same as Page 1 but with signature at bottom)
Witness Chief Skipper J. D. McPhee, R.C.N.R. Commanding Officer H.M.C.S. “Pryer”
*********************************
– Howard F. Chamberlin (Lightkeeper on Nootka 1936 – 1941)
– Norma (Kinnear) Money and Willa (Kinnear) Studiner (daughters of William Norman Kinnear, Senior Keeper on Langara 1943 – 1945)
Original interview from the Pine Tree Line1 website which is now hosted on this site.
The duplex – light tower barely visible on right side
Comments by Ren L’Ecuyer 2 – The Kinnear family lived at the lighthouse complex on Langara Island in the 1943-1945 time period. I was fortunate to communicate with Norma Kinnear in February 2004. I had requested her assistance in trying to recreate what once existed at Langara Island. The following detail is a series of questions and answers – all of which provide additional information on what occurred at Langara Island during this period of time.
Q#1 – Can you please provide the names of your parents, your sister and yourself? I assume there were just two children when you went to Langara Island.
A#1 – Father: William Norman Kinnear. Mother: Doris May Kinnear. Sisters: Willa Margaret Kinnear and Norma Kathleen Kinnear.
Q#2 – How old were you and your sister when you arrived at Langara Island?
A#2 – My sister (Willa) was seven and I was eight.
Q#3 – Was Langara Island the first location for your father as a light keeper?
– Rand Grant (relief keeper on Triple Island June – July 1978)
Melville Island - looking NW from Triple - photo Rand Grant (Flickr)
The story is in reference to the photo at right, Rand writes:
The large Island is Melville. Prince Rupert lies just beyond this. The tanker is on it’s way into Prince Rupert Port. One of the deepest and busiest on the west coast of British Columbia.
One evening back in ’78 [while stationed on Triple Island], I noticed an Alaskan Cruise ship on it’s way by. I walked up to the roof; it was a beautiful summer evening; I was curious, so started waving my arms over my head, back and forth. I actually witnessed that ship light-up with so many flash-bulbs that it made me laugh. Continue reading Do You Have a Photo of Me Mid-1978?→
Back on November 21st of this year I wrote What Ship Is That? to show people how to find out the location of their favourite ship as seen from a lighthouse, a home overlooking the water, or a sightseer on a hilltop. I would have loved to have had something like that on the lighthouses when I was there.
One other thing that always got our attention, especially at night, was the flickering lights of aircraft passing overhead. Many a time I wondered where the plane was coming from, or where it was going. You see, at the time, we ran an aircraft non-directional radio beacon which the planes used for navigation. It was more a check than actual navigation, but they did use it because they passed right over the top of us on the lighthouse, albeit at 30,000 feet! Continue reading What Plane Is That?→
Quarters and Rations (Q&R), seen on many Canadian government employee pay cheques as 
